Line ruling devices and method



Dec. 8, 1959 R. C. HERGENROTHER LINE RULING DEVICES AND METHOD Filed Feb. 19, 1957 hvvnvrop P0001! CT #[wwwmm RY 0a United States Patent LINE RULING DEVICES AND METHOD Rudolf C. Hergenrother, West Newton, Mass., assignor to Raytheon Company, a corporation of Delaware Application February 19, 1957, Serial No. 641,071

3 Claims. (Cl. 118-315) This invention relates to ruling lines on a body, and more particularly to deposit-ing lines of a particular substance on a target material for use in a cathode ray tube wherein energization of said lines therein by an electron beam results in a desired effect.

The present invention describes an apparatus and a method for depositing luminescent substances on a body, such as a target material for use in a cathode ray tube, and wherein the luminescent substances are responsive to electron beam energy for emitting different colors. In color television receivers, such colors are preferably red, green, and blue and when scanned properly by the electron beam source, provide a reproduction of the televised scene in said particular colors. Heretofore, several procedures have been employed to deposit lines of said luminescent materials either on the inner surface of the cathode ray tube itself or upon a target material disposed in said cathode ray tube. These procedures have met with varying degrees of success for depositing said lines, but in the mass production of color cathode ray tubes, it is not only desirable to deposit accurately-spaced and ruled lines, but also to evolve a process which is accurate and inexpensive. In this regard, photographic processes and the printing-like process heretofore proposed are considerably more costly than that of the present invention. 1

In accordance with the present invention, a plurality of lines of preselected width, thickness, and spacing can be accurately ruled simultaneously by means of an inexpensive device. The lines may be deposited from any suitable writing medium having a proper consistency so that said lines may be deposited from different coloremitting luminescent substances in a nitrocellulose base.

In essence, a Writing device is fabricated from a plurality of cells, joined together, to form a desirable length. The cells are composed of a plurality of laminae having a similar general configuration, but which differ from each other by the following characteristics. Each lamination has a number of openings in a surface thereof equal to the number of luminescent substances to be deposited. Except for a quantity of said laminae which functions as spacers, a different pattern is formed in a surface of said laminae for each luminescent substance to be used. A plurality of different laminae is formed having a single conduit connecting one of said openings of each of said laminae to a similar surface, which is preferably tapered. If a repetitive sequence of equidistant lines is desired, each cell is comprised of one lamination of each pattern with suitable spacers therebetween for the desired spacing between lines. Naturally, if a varying spacing between lines is desirable, by adding spacers between the proper laminae, this resultcan be achieved. Similarly,

if an irregular pattern of color-emitting lines is desirable,

the laminae with different conduits comprising the cells may be staggered in any sequence to achieve this result. Laminae selected for the cells comprising the writing device are then stacked to align said openings and to orient said conduits in a similar direction between a pair of solid members. By means of a suitable process, all the laminae of the cells are joined into a solid body. Since each of the laminations has a similar number of openings therein, said body has an equal number of channels formed therethrough. An opening is then made in each of said channels for connection to a suitable source of said lumines cent substances. The writing element is then flexibly mounted conveniently for ruling said lines with provision made to prevent excessive lateral movement of said writing element. The target material may conveniently be disposed under said writing element on a conveyor belt. After the writing element is properly positioned with respect to the target material and the proper luminescent substances are connected thereto, lines of said luminescent substances may be ruled when said conveyor belt is energized. ruled accurately in any desired pattern and the device is readily adaptable to assembly-line techniques for mass production of color television cathode ray tubes.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the line-ruling device of the present invention supported in a machine for employing said device;

Fig. 2 is a front view of a cross-section of the ruling device and the machine shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of laminae comprising the line-ruling device.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, there is shown one embodiment of the line-ruling device. A writing element 10 comprised of a plurality of stacked laminae 11, to be described more fully subsequently, is movably mounted on a bar 12 by an arm 13 afiixed thereto by any suitable welding process and extending therefrom and terminated in a member 1 4, which has a cylindrical configuration to enable it to rest in the grooved surface of the bar. The bar 12 may be fixed in place above a body to be ruled, such as a glass plate 15, between a pair of upright supports 16 and 17. One of said supports may be taller than the other to enable the writing element to be placed on said bar and removed therefrom with ease. A ninety degree, V-groove cut in said bar may be used for carrying the cylindrical member 14. The purpose of mounting the writing element in this manner is to enable the Writing element to be slidably mounted in a transverse plane with respect to the glass plate and, at the same time, to be flexibly mounted for reasons to be given subsequently. As shown best in Fig. 2, the writing element is angularly positioned with respect to the glass plate in order to facilitate the flow of the writing medium to the glass plate.

The glass plate 15 may be disposed on a movable platform 18, which is a part of a support or table 19. The supports 16 and 17 may be positioned to straddle the movable platform 18, so that the writing element will be fixed in place in relation to the glass plate when said glass plate is moved on said platform. A motor (not shown) may be employed to move said platform on a plurality of rollers 20 affixed to the table 19 and in contact with said platform. Ruling lines by means of the method described is advantageous in that the method can be adapted to commercial operations for ruling a multitude of individual bodies and by adjusting the rate of movement to obtain a suitable flow of the writing medium employed, accurate lines of uniform thickness may be deposited. While other arrangements for moving the body to be ruled in relation to a fixed writing element will suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art, such other In this manner, target materials can be arrangements will not depart from the principles outlined herein.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the writing element has aflixedto one end thereof a roller device 21 comprised of a holder 22 and a ball-bearing 23 secured therein by means of a. pin 24, and a threaded shaft 25 affixed to the holder 22. However, a similar device is afiixed to the other end of the writing element, although only one roller device is discussed herein. The shaft 25 is dimensioned to be held in the threaded aperture of a body 26, which may be an ordinary threaded nut, attached by a suitable welding process to the end members of the writing element. The threaded nut 26 is positioned to enable the roller device engaged therein to lie in a perpendicular plane with respect to the table, so that the ballbearing 23 can be positioned to ride on the glass plate 15. A knob 27 is affixed to the threaded shaft 25 for adjusting the height oflthe writing element above the glass plate which, in turn, controls the thickness of the writing medium deposited on'the glass plate.

The advantages of flexibly mounting said writing element will now become more apparent. Since said roller devices 21 are in contact with a moving glass plate, the

cylindrical member 14 in said bar will rotate in said bar when the movable platform is energized and deenergized. Thus, there will be a smooth transition with: out loss of accuracy when the platform is energized and deenergized. Also, since said roller devices are energized in the aforesaid manner, by supporting the writing element in said bar, lateral movement of said writing element is substantially eliminated. However, due to the contact between said roller devices and said glass plate, and the likelihood that said glass plate will not always be an entirely smooth plane surface, the writing element will not be substantially affected by irregular surface blemishes thereon, since it is disposed in a manner that enables the writing element to be displaced in the transverse plane in which said Writing element is carried on said bar to compensate therefor. All of these features are refinements which contribute to the accuracy of lines ruled by the device. Other methods of mounting the writing element will suggest themselves to persons skilled in the prior art to accomplish many of the same purposes described herein without departing from the objects described herein.

Referringnow to Fig. 3, there is shown the laminae comprising a writing element for depositing lines of three diflierent writing media, such as color-emitting phosphors in a nitro-cellulose base, the phosphors commonly employed for the fabrication of a target material used in a color television receiver emit red, green and blue light when energized by electron beam energy. It is obvious at this point that the scope of the invention is not limited todepositing three writing media, but rather, it is readily forseeable that the limits can range from one media to any reasonable number of different writing media. The discussion that follows will clarify the various aspects of the invention in this regard.

Initially, by way of example, assume it desirable to deposit three writing media, red, green, and bluephosphors, on the glass plate 15. A plurality of laminae, with the exception of a' pair o'f end members which of necessity must be imperviousto-the writing media, may v be stamped from a material nonreactive and noncontaminating to thewriting media employed. Stainless steel and certain plastic materials well known to persons skilled in the art maybe used for this purpose. These laminae should conform to the followingcharacteristics for the embodiment being described. The laminae are preferably fabricated from material having a thicknessapproximately that of the width of the line to be deposited. A common width for depositing lines for a target material would be 0.015 inch. Said: stainless steel material preferably has a configuration with a tapered surface, although it need not be shaped like the symmetrical polygon shown in Fig. 3.

- 4 All laminae, except the pair of previously mentioned, have a number of relatively large openings 28, 29 and 30 in a surface thereof equal to the number of different writing media to be deposited. Said laminae may then be divided into four groups, 31, 32, 33 and 34, for convenience. One group hereinafter referred to as spacers 31 has no other distinguishing characteristics than said openings. A second group'of laminae 32 has a conduit cut therein joining a single opening to the tapered surface. A third group of laminae 33 has a conduitcut therein joining a single opening, difierent from said second group, to be tapered surface; and a fourth group of laminae 34 has a conduit cut therein joining a single opening, different from said second and third groups, to said tapered surface. Assuming it desirable to fabricate a writing element to deposit a repetitive sequence of equidistant lines, a plurality of cells comparable to cell 35 can be stacked manually or by employing some sort of slotted device to facilitate the stacking of said laminae. In this instance, a cell would be comprised of a different lamination 32, 33 or 34 with spacer 31 interposed between each pair of laminations, with the exception of perhaps the first lamination. It is obvious that more than one spacer 31 can be used to control the spacing between adjacent laminations. The number'of cells selected in this manner is determined by the overall length of the writing element to be fabricated. Said cells may then be stacked end to end in the selected sequence with said openings aligned and said conduits oriented in a similar direction. All said laminae may then be formed into an integral solid body by employing one of the known processes for joining laminae, for example, silver-plating and then brazing said laminae. The solid body forming said laminae will have a plurality of channels therethrough due to the openings in said laminae. One hole 36, 37 or 38 is then made in the surface of the solid body to intercept one of said channels. A suitable conduit or pipe 39, 40 or 41, best shown in Fig. 2, is then secured in one of said holes for subsequently connecting flexible hoses 42, 43 or .44 to one of said pipes. The writing element is mounted in the manner previously explained and the flexible hoses can be connected to the individual sources of the phosphors to be employed in' a suitable manner to have a preselected pattern of colored phosphors deposited on the glass plate. Since each channel in the writing element is intended to house a different color-emitting phosphor, it is important to connect the proper source to each conduit to have the proper sequence of colors deposited; It may be preferable to employ pressure devices (not shown) in conjunction with said sources in order to insure a predetermined rate of flow of the somewhat viscous consistency of phosphors in a nitrocellulose base from the conduits of said laminae onto the glass plate. Lines of a predetermined thickness may be deposited by adjusting the position of the rollers, the rate of movement of the platform, and the rate pf flow of the writing media through said conduits.

It should be apparent now that one or a plurality of writing media may be deposited in a repetitive or'irregular sequence by properly stacking the laminae comprising because the invention is sulficiently broad to be adapted,

to the ruling of materials which form the basis of any printing technique forfabricatingdecalcomanias and any photographic technique for making contact prints, which decalcomanias'and contact prints are employed to deposit linesdirectly on the face of a cathode ray tube. Furthermore, in regard to ruling a targetmaterial, after lines are deposited on the glass plate, in a second step of preparing said glass plate as a target, a writing element constructed and arranged as described herein may be employed to deposit other materials adjacent previouslydeposited lines, or for superimposing on previously-deposited lines of high secondary emissive substance as is described in Patent No. 2,743,312 to Bingley. In addition, a writing element of the type described herein may be disposed in relation to a curved or cylindrical body that is rotated by alathe or similar apparatus, so as to deposit lines thereon in accordance with a preselected pattern as aforementioned for a moving plane surface. While a device has been described for depositing a plurality of substances, it is foreseeable that for certain applications, a plurality of devices constructed and arranged as described herein may be arranged in tandem for depositing accurately-ruled lines on a body.

Having described one embodiment of the invention with particularity, it is desired that the appended claims be given a broad interpretation commensurate with the scope of the invention within the art.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a writing element including a plurality of cells comprised of a plurality of stacked laminae, each lamina having a number of openings in a surface thereof equal to the number of luminescent substances to be deposited on a body, some of said laminae having a conduit connecting one of said openings of different laminae to a similar tapered portion of said different laminae, said laminae with conduits being stacked together with laminae without conduits in a preselected pattern, means for connecting a source of luminescent substance to a channel formed by the openings of said stacked laminae, means attached to said writing element and cooperating therewith for slidably mounting said writing element in a transverse plane to a body disposed in close proximity to the terminals of said conduits, whereby said luminescent substances may be deposited on said body by moving said body in relation to said writing element at a predetermined period.

2. In combination, a writing element comprising a block having a plurality of cells therein for holding and dispensing writing material therefrom, means attached to said block for feeding writing material into said block, means flexibly mounting said block relative to a body to be written upon, and means attached to said block adapted to contact and ride upon said body during relative movement between said block and said body, said last-named means being adjustable to raise said block out of contact with said body whereby control of the vertical positioning of said block with respect to said body is achieved during said relative movement.

3. In combination, a writing element comprising a laminated block having a plurality of cells therein for holding and dispensing writing material therefrom, means attached to said block for feeding writing material into said block, means flexibly mounting said block relative to a body to be written upon, and means attached to said block adapted to contact and ride upon said body during relative movement between said block and said body, said last-named means being adjustable to raise said block out of contact with said body whereby control of the thickness of deposited writing material by the vertical positioning of said block with respect to said body is achieved during said relative movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 375,305 Videto Dec. 20, 1887 761,399 Pond May 31, 1904 1,807,672 Prentis June 2, 1931 1,929,127 Turner Oct. 3, 1933 2,031,387 Schwarz Feb. 18, 1936 2,218,811 Chaussabel Oct. 22, 1940 2,471,330 Knight et a1 May 24, 1949 2,766,717 Neidich et a1 Oct. 16, 1956 

